Strong and shallow M6.9 earthquake hits Molucca Sea, Indonesia

ByTeo Blašković
strong-and-shallow-m6-9-earthquake-hits-molucca-sea-indonesia

Image credit: Google, TW/SAM

A strong and shallow earthquake registered by the USGS as M6.9 hit the Molucca Sea, Indonesia at 15:08 UTC on July 7, 2019. The agency is reporting a depth of 36.3 km (22.5 miles). EMSC is reporting M6.9 at a depth of 20 km (12.4 miles).

The epicenter was located 135 km (84 miles) WSW of Ternate (population 101 731) and 153 km (95 miles) W of Sofifi (population 36 197), North Maluku, Indonesia.

BMKG issued a tsunami warning, predicting waves of 50 cm (1.6 feet) for parts of North Sulawesi and North Maluku.

There are no people living within 100 km (62 miles).

2 919 000 people are estimated to have felt light shaking.

The USGS issued a green alert for shaking-related fatalities and economic losses. There is a low likelihood of casualties and damage.

Overall, the population in this region resides in structures that are vulnerable to earthquake shaking, though resistant structures exist. The predominant vulnerable building types are unreinforced brick with concrete floor and precast concrete frame with wall construction.

Estimated population exposure to earthquake shaking

Selected cities exposed

Regional seismicity

Teo Blašković founded The Watchers in 2011 and edited it until 2026, covering seismic and volcanic activity, extreme weather, space weather and near-Earth objects. Articles on this page are his archive.

Share:

Published in the last 24 hours

  1. In 1920, a man out hunting on a farm in Namibia sat down on a strange black rock, scratched it with his knife and saw metal shine underneath. It was Hoba, a 60-ton meteorite, the largest ever found, and there is no crater around it Epicenter
  2. On December 26, 2004, a 10-year-old British girl on a Phuket beach recognized the frothing sea from a recent geography lesson, and her warning helped clear the beach before the tsunami struck Epicenter

From around the web